New App Helps Users Find Parking In NYC

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A new app could make finding a parking spot in the city a whole lot easier.

New Jersey resident Michael Fasano became fed up with New York’s confusing parking signs when he was trying to park one night in TriBeCa. Fasano asked the door man of the building that he was in front of if he could park there and even he had no idea what the parking rules were.

The incident inspired the creation of “Can I Park Here” an app developed by Fasano and software developer Matthew Ripston.

The iPhone app allows users to photograph the parking sign for the area in question, it then lets the user know if they can park there and for how long.

The app even has a timer that starts when the user parks and lets them know how much time they have left at their spot.

Although the app prompts the user to submit a picture of a sign, it actually works off of a GPS system which checks the phone’s location against the DOT’s parking database.

Fasano says an idea like this was a long time in the making.

“I’ve always had ideas for things,” Mr. Fasano said, “but this is the first one I followed through on.”

He and Ripston are working on an upgrade to the app that will feature a map that will let the user manually enter their location for greater accuracy. The new app is expected to be released in a month.

Will you be buying this app, or do you already use it? Let us know in our comments section…